Has Materialism/Commercialism Stunted the Growth of the American Education System?

My mother is an elementary school teacher, and I've never really got her opinion on this before...probably need to soon if I can remember. Anyway, Obama talking about education yesterday on Hardball made me think about something. When you compare education in America to other more strict countries when it comes to this issue, you can almost see why American kids both urban and suburban are lagging behind. I don't think this country has its priorities straight at all. Now some blame has to go to parents too, but sometimes people want to conviently blame parenting without acknowledging the problems WITHIN the education system itself. For several decades now, intellectualism has become taboo in a weird way. To be smart and intellectual means you're a dork...and dorks aren't cool (or so says the materialistic culture we've created here in America). You can't give a complete analysis of our education system without looking at commercialism in America and the role it has had in drying out intellectual progression so our kids can compete on the world stage.

That's my opinion, education is not talked about enough...so let's have a debate.

I think it is all about teachers, parents and the school. If all 3 are up to the task and devoted to helping the child learn, they will succeed.

nt

question or think crittically. Follow the company/government line and go shop at wall-mart.

... God Americans LOVE being stupid - just as long as they tell each other they're not.

education is to prepare their child for a job.

I saw it on the college level all the time: parents who said that they would pay their child's tuition, but only if that child majored in business; parents who urged their decidedly dim-witted children to study Japanese "because it would help them get a good job," parents who didn't want their children studying abroad because it would delay their entry into the job market and cost them (in those days) $25,000 in lifetime income.

You also see it on a public school level, as when school districts cut arts education because it's "useless" (i.e. won't lead directly to a job for most people).

I'd like to see politicians and other public figures (celebrities and athletes? why not?) promote education as a way to become a well-informed citizen and enrich one's non-working life.

If I had the resources, I'd produce public service advertising spots in which celebrities and athletes talked about recent books they had read and why those books were important.

something sure aint right.

I don't know a whole lot about elementary school. But, at the college level there is a toxic tendency to treat students as "consumers." "Consumers" have to be kept happy. What makes "consumers" happy? Cheap. Easy. Convenient. I could go on. Suffice to say: "consumers" like exactly the opposite of what students need.

to be smart...We competed for our grades as much as we competed on the soccer field. When we got a test back or a paper, we'd all compare who got what and where our put our GPA and where the academic order was.. We were smart.. Most of us took college classes by our Junior and Senior years and out performed at the collegiate level. The dorks were the dumb one's.. the one's who wouldn't study, the one's who at that young age were choosing to keep themselves behind.

college in 2001.. I entered a frozen job market.. and its still frozen.

We need better or different education so that "our kids can compete on the world stage". So education is like a weapon that helps you win a fight. That does not seem like a noble goal.

It's not lack of education that makes our workforce non-competetive. Some of it is lack of a work ethic. In our culture now working hard does not make you a hero, it makes you a dupe, a fool. The New American Standard is to do a little as possible for as much as possible. A winner is somebody who gets paid big bucks to play or to talk. A loser is somebody who busts their butt for a low hourly wage.

But the hourly wage is also the main issue. An American needs an hourly wage of at least $8 to have a decent life, and expects (or these days, hopes for) benefits like paid sick leave, paid holidays, paid vacation, insurance, and a pension. In Mexico a worker only needs $2 an hour to have a decent life, and in China or India maybe 75 cents an hour, and will work 60 hour weeks without expecting/demanding over-time pay. Even for jobs that require education (which have been going to foreigners for quite a while too, just look at your graduate students at the average American university) the monetary competition goes to India and China where they can afford to work for much less. There's no amount of education that will erase that absolute advantage the 3rd world has in labor costs.

Then there's the public image. The people you see on TV every day who are "successful" are mostly not people who succeeded because of their education - they are sports figures, sports coaches, sports announcers, entertainers/musicians, and sales people (the realtor, the auto dealership, etc.). Other than doctors and lawyers, it seems that the path to big bucks does not go through a university or school.

How many here have kids in schools where sports is the one area left with enough finances for kids to shine there? When I was in high school, it was possible to compete and get recognition in science fairs, math contests, art shows, music, theatre, AND sports.

My kids went to high school in a rural area, where any spare cash went to sports. Period. Being brainy or artistic got you nowhere, because it just wasn't "cool" enough. Problem is, being the high school quarterback may be cool, but it doesn't necessarily set you up for life unless you're really, really good. And the kids who might shine in other endeavors never get a chance to test their mettle because the programs just aren't there.